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be quiet! Shadow Rock LP Review

be quiet! Shadow Rock LP Conclusion:

Designed for low profile and HTPC case applications, the Shadow Rock LP is a top flow cooler that can definitely fit where most coolers can't. You get style and the usual dose of high quality from be quiet!. An additional benefit of a top flow cooler is that all the air that gets pushed through the heat sinks gets directed down to the motherboard. The motherboard components, especially the RAM and VRM, get the bonus of extra airflow. The top flow design also allows space for RAM with tall heat spreaders in all four slots.

The installation was not bad - the small size of the Shadow Rock LP makes it easy to manipulate as you get the mounting bar into position. This can be somewhat of a pain with large, bulky coolers. And I do like the way the thermal paste comes pre-applied. That takes some of the guess work out of the installation process.

Now for the performance - this is a small cooler made to fit in small spaces. So it is not reasonable to expect the performance to be on par with coolers that are twice the size, let alone the ones that are so big they have their own zip code. And that is what the thermal testing showed. When the CPU was under a load, the cooler struggled to keep up even when the Pure Wings 2® 120mm PWM fan was running at full speed. This was without the additional stress of an overclock. However, I would expect that the majority of systems that would benefit from this cooler would not be subjected to full loads, especially not for extended periods of time. If you are benchmarking your enthusiast level system, chances are you are going to have an expensive, monster cooler sitting on your CPU, so I don't want to sound negative about the Shadow Rock LP. Given the intended application, I believe this cooler would be just fine for what I would consider normal use. And in a small case, your cooling options are usually limited, and that is where the Shadow Rock LP shines.

The Shadow Rock LP retails for $39.90 at Newegg, but if you shop around a little, you can sometimes find a special deal for even less. If you are building a small form factor or HTPC, the Shadow Rock LP is worth consideration.

Pros:

Compact, low-profile design can fit in small, shallow small form factor and HTPC cases